Award-winning Science Educator to Speak at Susquehanna

Published on January 31, 2014

Julio J. Ramirez, the R. Stuart Dickson professor of psychology at Davidson College in North Carolina, will visit Susquehanna University Feb. 9–10. Ramirez is the founding president of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, a national organization dedicated to promoting undergraduate education in the neurosciences.

Susquehanna recently added a neuroscience major to its list of more than 50-plus majors, reflecting the growing importance of this interdisciplinary field, which blends the approaches of biology, psychology and chemistry to study the function of the brain and its role in governing human behavior.

Ramirez will give a public lecture Feb. 10 at 4:15 p.m. titled “The Intentional Mentor: Effective Mentorship of Undergraduate Science Students” in Faylor Hall, in Fisher Hall. His visit to campus will also include a lunch with students and a talk titled “Habits of Successful Scientists.”

Ramirez teaches undergraduate courses in psychology and neuroscience at Davidson College, where he has involved more than 130 undergraduate students in his research program. His research interests include the recovery of function after central nervous system injury, with an emphasis on determining the functional significance of hippocampal neuroplasticity.

Ramirez has received numerous national honors for his contributions to undergraduate science education. The American Psychological Association has named him the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Career Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology Award. In 2011, President Barack Obama honored Ramirez with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in recognition of his national leadership in mentoring undergraduate students and junior faculty. That same year, he received the Society for Neuroscience Award for Education in Neuroscience and the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Mentor Award.

The National Science Foundation awarded him the 2004 Director’s Award for Distinguished Teaching Scholars, and in 1989, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education named Ramirez the North Carolina Professor of the Year and a National Gold Medal Professor of the Year. He is also a fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science and the Council on Undergraduate Research.